Consultants met with a small group of Clarksville residents and city planners Tuesday to discuss ideas on downtown streetscapes.
The hearing was part of a downtown traffic study that focuses on parking and pedestrian connectivity.

Among a slew of proposals, Riverside Drive was the road consultants homed in on, calling it the city’s “most disappointing street.”

One proposal to beautify the road was to add a grassy curbed median with trees, which planners said would also slow down traffic. Slower traffic would help businesses attract customers, and actually lets the road accommodate a higher load of vehicles.

Another suggestion, which elicited mixed reviews from those in attendance, was to add on-street parallel parking to the river side of the road.

Atlanta-based firm Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh and Associates is conducting the study, which cost the city $52,000 approved by the City Council earlier this year. Of that, about $30,000 comes from the Parking Authority’s budget.

City project manager Daniel Binkley said the expectations of the study were twofold: to come up with ideas that can be implemented now, like adding bike lanes or parking spaces that require only re-striping pavement, and those that are more long-term, like adding medians or sidewalks.

Making downtown more bicycle-friendly was one of the study’s stated goals, in addition to improving parking.

“I’d love to see a bike lane through downtown Clarksville — especially a state road where the right-of-way is there,” city parking manager David Smith said.

One such suggestion involved a bike lane on Second Street (paired with its equivalent on one-way Third Street in the opposite direction), removing a lane of traffic and adding angled parking to the road itself.

Pedestrian traffic in the area was another concern.
“We’ve got one crosswalk between Austin Peay and the city of Clarksville,” said Jeff Robinson, the Parking Authority chairman. “That’s like saying, ‘You’re an island, don’t come in.’”

Added Binkley: “And (there’s) no river access,” from APSU.
Many proposals hinge on cooperation from the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which owns many of the roads discussed, like College Street, Riverside Drive and parts of Second Street.